A curfew has been imposed on the valley region in Indian-administered Kashmir ahead of the burial of a senior separatist who was killed on Monday.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz and four others were killed after police fired to disperse stone-throwing Muslims on Monday.

They were among thousands of protesters who had marched towards the Line of Control (LoC) dividing the region.

They were supporting a move by fruit growers in the mainly Muslim Kashmir valley to take produce across the LoC.

Tensions are rising and threaten peace hopes after years of relative calm.

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Indian troops in Congo gold warning ... have imposed curfew to ensure the peaceful burial of Sheikh Aziz," local police chief Kuldeep Khuda told reporters.

Security is tight in the summer capital, Srinagar, and adjoining areas.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz's body has been kept in a mosque in Srinagar. Mourners have stayed with the body and shouted slogans like "We want freedom".

The police said they were trying to find out why security forces opened fire on the protesters on Monday, leading to the death of the leader and four others.

Rotting fruit

Thousands of fruit-growers and other protesters began their march on Monday from Sopore, 50km (30 miles) north of Srinagar, the summer capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz was a prominent leader of the All Party Hurriyat Conference, which opposes Indian rule.

Police say several of their personnel were injured by stones thrown by those at the protest.

The demonstrators were attempting to march to the de facto border with Pakistani-controlled Kashmir to protest at a blockade by Hindus in the Jammu region of a key highway that links the Kashmir Valley with the rest of India.

Hindus have protested for weeks since plans were scrapped to give land to a Hindu trust to build facilities for pilgrims near an important shrine in the region.

With the highway blocked for days, the Muslim fruit growers have complained that their produce is rotting.

Senior separatist leaders have been placed under house arrest.

The Indian Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, has appealed to the fruit-growers to call off their protests.

He has offered to buy all their fruit and also to pay compensation to those whose fruit has perished.

The row started when the state government said it would grant 99 acres (40 hectares) of forest land to the Amarnath Shrine Board.

Muslims launched violent protests, saying the allocation of land was aimed at altering the demographic balance in the area.

The state government said the shrine board needed the land to erect huts and toilets for visiting pilgrims.

But following days of protests, the government rescinded the order, prompting Hindu groups to mount violent protests of their own.

About 20 people - Muslims and Hindus - have been killed and hundreds wounded in clashes with police since the unrest began.

(BBC)

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